Man wanted in Idaho kidnapping arrested in North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. — Police in Bismarck arrested an Idaho kidnapping suspect Wednesday after the man allegedly pulled a gun on a truck driver and then fled to a nearby trailer park.

Mitchell Lee Walck, 57, was arrested after a foot chase, police said. The truck driver reported he returned to his rig at a truck stop and found Walck in the sleeper cab. Walck threatened the man with a gun and then ran to a nearby mobile home park, police said.

Officers found Walck hiding under a tree. He had a 9 mm gun in his waistband, police said in a statement.

Regional law enforcement officers had been searching for Walck after a 62-year-old Rathdrum, Idaho, woman reported she was kidnapped from her home at gunpoint on Saturday and driven to Glendive, Mont., where she was released unharmed Sunday.

The man took the woman's car and took two rifles from her house, the Kootenai County sheriff's office said. The car was recovered near where Walck was arrested, Bismarck police said.

The Kootenai County sheriff's office said the kidnapping victim, Susan Smith, has returned to the Rathdrum area and has been interviewed, but officers did not release any information about her statement. The sheriff's office had a $1 million warrant for Walck's arrest on a kidnapping charge while the FBI was offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

In addition to the Idaho warrant, Walck was arrested for unlawful entry to a motor vehicle, terrorizing and felon in possession of a firearm.

The FBI was questioning him after which he was to be taken to the Burleigh County Detention Center.